Wheel and belt type continuous casting machines are well known in the art. Examples are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,315,349, 3,349,471, 3,561,105, 3,716,423 and 3,672,430. All of these continuous metal casting systems have two things in common. First, the wheel and belt revolve in a single vertical casting plane. This requires the entire casting facility to be designed around vertical alignment of the casting wheel and normally includes complex building requirements such as multiple story buildings and/or deep pits to house the bottom of the casting wheel and coolant drains. Second, the casting groove or mold is in the outer periphery of the wheel, and cooperates with a flexible belt to form the casting mold.
Although inclined casting wheels are discussed in U.S. Pat. No. 437,509 and German Pat. No. DT 113,573, casting wheels are normally aligned substantially vertical or substantially horizontal. This double wheel eccentric/inclined band manufacturing system (U.S. Pat. No. 437,509; DT No. 113,573) is disclosed herein because of its inclined wheel; however, since the present invention is specifically a wheel and belt type casting and rolling system having a mold formed by a peripheral groove of a wheel cooperating with a band, the inclined/eccentric double wheel system (U.S. Pat. No. 437,509; DT No. 113,573) as well as the horizontal casting wheel system with a casting groove on the top horizontal surface (U.S. Pat. No. 359,349; U.S. Pat. No. 3,284,859 discussed hereinafter) are considered outside the field of the present wheel and belt type invention.
Another type of casting wheel is disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 359,349 and 3,284,859 wherein the wheel is substantially horizontally aligned and the casting groove is on the top horizontal surface near the outer periphery.
Although the peripheral groove type vertical wheel and belt casting and rolling system is preferred because there is more control over the cast product, there are several disadvantages in the vertically aligned type of wheel and belt casting and rolling system.
These disadvantages include high molten metal head pressure against the belt which sometimes causes leakage between the belt and the peripheral groove. Also, the cast bar normally has a broad and flat horizontal top which travels through the bar preparation machinery and tends to provide a surface for collecting debris which can be rolled into the bar and can cause defective rod and broken wire. In addition, since the bar travels directly over the open casting pool, slag and other debris from the bar or its conveyor frequently falls into the casting pool resulting in major defects in the finished rod. Vertically aligned casting wheels also require that all the associated equipment function within narrow vertical alignment limitations which usually results in unnecessarily complex cooling apparatus, metal pouring apparatus and drive mechanisms. Further, since vertical wheel casting machines are normally cantilevered from the drive mechanism, there is usually a high bending stress in the axle upon which the massive vertical wheel is mounted. For these and other reasons the present inclined wheel and belt casting machine was invented.